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Treating ourselves to a luxury good – whether that’s an expensive fragrance, a designer handbag or a piece of fine jewellery – makes us feel good. What many forget, however, is that a prestigious brand name and substantial price tag are by no means a guarantee of ethical practise. Whilst the exploitative endeavours of many a budget brand are laid bare, that of high-end fashion and jewellery lines are still largely overshadowed by glamorous reputations, impressive endorsements and the assumption that nothing which costs lots of money could possibly be the product of immoral behaviour.
Sadly, the jewellery industry is one largely rooted in imperialism. From the methods used to mine gold to the treatment of those involved in diamond supply chains and the dubious production practises of the Far East, much of the jewellery that circulates today is marred by violence and exploitation. Although demand for ‘ethical jewellery’ is growing increasingly by the day, when it comes to social, political, economic and environmental reparations, we still have a long way to go.
There are roughly 7.65 billion people in the world, and for every one of those people, the word ‘ethical’ means something different. It’s an adjective that cannot be defined in simplistic terms.
The lens through which we currently view the world at Lebrusan Studio is the Doughnut Economics framework. A concept coined by British economist Kate Raworth, the Doughnut symbolises Earth’s social and planetary boundaries. Humanity’s challenge in the 21st century is to ensure that no one falls short on life’s essentials (from food to housing, healthcare and a political voice), whilst also ensuring that we don’t place excess collective pressure on Planet Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems. These systems, on which we all fundamentally depend, include a stable climate, fertile soils and a protective ozone layer. An ideal world is a world where we can all exist comfortably within this ‘social foundation’ and ‘environmental ceiling’; within the Doughnut. As an ethical jewellery business, the success of every decision we make is measured by our adherence to these boundaries and any steps taken to reinforce them. In other words, the Doughnut has helped us to define what ‘ethical jewellery’ means to us.
Defining what ‘ethical jewellery’ means to you is about finding a framework that you can measure decision-making against, then combining tangible steps accordingly. We’ll go on to outline some of these steps now…
In short, jewellery that champions fair trade principles is jewellery that actively supports the human beings behind it. Traceability and third party certification of precious materials enable jewellery designers and makers at the latter end of the supply chain to ensure that our money is contributing directly to social, political, environmental and healthcare initiatives in the mining and production communities involved in the supply chain’s earlier stages.
Unfortunately, artisanal and small-scale (ASM) mines can be hazardous places, where miners work without protective gear, in structurally insecure pits and exposed to harmful chemicals that can contribute to long-term health problems and contaminate local water supplies. Often, ASM miners are exploited by middle men and earn barely enough to get by. They lead back-breaking, precarious lifestyles - not to thrive, but to survive.
All this being said, ASM is a legitimate livelihood and, when managed responsibly, has the power to fortify community foundations, feed families, provide employment opportunities and educate the world. Fair trade initiatives help to harness this potential. Fairtrade Gold and Fairmined Gold were two of the jewellery trade’s very first ethical certification system, pioneered by our founder Arabel Lebrusan as one of just 12 who were specially selected to do so. More recent fair trade initiatives like PeaceGold.
From abandoned gold mines filling the air with noxious dust to toxic waste spills forcing thousands of dead fish to the surface of rivers, the jewellery industry is unfortunately responsible for huge pressure on our planet. Vast volumes of land, water and energy are required to mine and produce even the most ‘responsible’ precious materials available to us. One of the easiest ways to reduce our carbon footprint is to incorporate recycled materials into our default offering.
The eternally renewable nature of gold and platinum means recycled metal has long been embraced as an industry standard, and the increasing normalisation of reclaimed old-cut diamonds and recycled gemstones is too fostering great opportunities to create new jewellery without the need for anything other than materials already above-ground. The Doughnut Economics framework would of course argue that the exclusive use of recycled materials tends only to Earth’s environmental issues, disregarding the needs of millions of people around the world who rely on mining and production as a source of income. That’s why definitions of ‘ethical jewellery’ call for nuance. We, for example, balance out our offering by working with both fair traded and recycled materials in equal measures, only tending to advocate more loudly for recycled materials if that means remodelling clients’ old heirloom jewels.
In the very early stages of the ethical jewellery movement, most conversations revolved around traceability; the novel concept of challenging the opaque supply chains that we had historically accepted as the norm. Although revolutionary at the time for the way they forced jewellers and consumers to think more carefully about the origins of their jewellery than ever before, rudimentary regulations such as the Kimberley Process (2003) have since been criticised for failing to address problems beyond the fundamental issue of traceability and for leaving too much room for error. We have learned a lot since then.
Developments in blockchain technology – that which enables the tracking of precious materials from mine to consumer - have helped to close some of the cracks and put traceability within reaching distance of any jeweller interested in pursuing it. It’s important, however, to make the distinction between ‘traceable’ and ‘ethical’. Although traceability is of course preferable to murky waters, traceability alone is not enough. Single Mine Origin (SMO) gold and Canadian diamonds, for example, offer very little besides the assurance that they have been mined outside of conflict areas and in adherence to national labour laws – which is, as far as we’re concerned, the bare minimum. Canadian diamonds, for example, are mined on an unsustainably gargantuan scale. With no tangible steps towards environmental restoration or socioeconomic reparations, the traceability of these materials is nothing more than a preliminary step in the right direction. For jewellery to be truly ethical, it needs to work a little harder.
